49ers rookie draws comparison to Hall of Fame defensive back

USA Today

4 days ago

After giving up just 192.8 passing yards per game in 2024 (fourth-fewest in the NFL), the San Francisco 49ers made a lot of changes to their secondary, including swapping out Charvarius Ward, Isaac Yiadom, Talanoa Hufanga, Nick McCloud, Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles, George Odum, Rock Ya-Sin and Tashaun Gipson for Jason Pinnock, Tre Brown, Richie Grant, Siran Neal and Tre Tomlinson in free agency.
Then, in the NFL draft, San Francisco used their second of two third-round picks (No. 100 overall) on Western Kentucky cornerback Upton Stout.
Stout, 23, was a three-star recruit out of North Shore High School in Houston, Texas before spending his first two college seasons at North Texas and then transferring to Western Kentucky for the last years three.
In 45 career games between the two schools, Stout recorded 166 tackles (12 for a loss), 15 passes defensed, six interceptions (two for touchdowns), 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one fumble recovered (returned for a touchdown). He also earned All-Conference honors thrice and FCS All-American honors twice.
As Stout looks to earn a starting opportunity as the team's nickelback, 49ers general manager John Lynch has been impressed with the rookie's performance and even compared him to a Hall of Fame defensive back.
"This whole class has been good, but I'll tell you, Upton Stout, you don't have to have a real trained, you just come to practice," Lynch said on KNBR's "Murph & Markus" this week. "You always have to be careful making comparisons to Hall of Fame players, but I played with a nickel [in Tampa Bay in] Ronde Barber, and they wear the same number -- the feistiness, the competitor that Upton is, and that kind of drives his entire game. Now you have to have a skillset, and Upton certainly has that."
Barber was a third-round pick out of Virginia in the 1997 NFL draft and spent his entire 16-year career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, making five Pro Bowls, five All-Pro teams and winning one Super Bowl. He and Lynch were teammates in Tampa Bay for seven seasons from 1997-2003.
Obviously, putting Hall of Fame expectations on a rookie cornerback would be foolish, but it's clear that Stout belongs on the field. If he continues on this trajectory through the end of the preseason (and remains healthy), he'll give himself an opportunity to be out there with the 49ers' defensive starters in their Week 1 matchup against the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field.
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